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August 31, 2005
The Big Soggy...
As time passes there will be a lot written about New Orleans and the ravages of hurricane Katrina. I do not have access to all the information and reporting capacities of the big news agencies and so I will not repeat their fine efforts here. But, I can use this space to offer some personal observations and ask a few questions.
As of this date, August 31, 2005, New Orleans has been shut down. Over half a million people and growing have no homes, or jobs or anything. They have their lives and that’s a good thing. Though I am sure the number will grow that counts those that were not so lucky.
What was interesting to watch as the hurricane came and went was the forecasting of the costs and how it might be an expensive storm. "Maybe even as expensive as hurricane Andrew that hit Homestead, Florida in 1992," they were saying. Well, the costs for Katrina will eclipse those of Andrew many times over and will have ripple effects that will even affect all of us living on the other end of the continent. When I look at pictures of the event I am reminded of the devastation of the Tsunami that hit on Boxing Day 2004. And that gets me to thinking.
The price and availability of gasoline will immediately change. Jet fuel will go up again and an already beleaguered airline industry will suffer further. Shipping costs will change and go up all across the land as one of the continent’s major ports is shut down. The costs and availability of lumber and building products will affect housing costs. And the sheer cost of feeding and housing and maintaining nearly a million lost souls will be a huge burden on an already stretched economy. And this is bringing me to a point of personal curiosity:
Who, if anybody, will step up to the plate and offer assistance to the country who more than anybody else in this world, steps up and helps all those others in need when disaster strikes? Who?
I know the Canadian Red Cross is being called up and getting ready to help. But will Canada’s federal government have the decency to offer what we can? I hope so, because you know damn well that if a massive earthquake were to hit the lower mainland, you better believe that the United States would be right there with help. The US Army Corps of Engineers is the only hope we would have of getting bridges across rivers and communications and transportation going if we got hit real bad. Well, our only hope if we wanted it done within our lifetimes that is.
I want to see if Indonesia offers access to oil at a special rate to get us through the worst. I want to see if Thailand even offers cheap fruit for the hungry. I want to see if Saudi Arabia steps up production and directs a few extra ships to American refineries on the West Coast. I want to see if Israel sends financial aid to help feed or shelter the homeless. I want to see if Holland offers expertise or manpower to help rebuild the levees and dikes around the city. I want to see if Germany can help by getting its famed steel mills working to produce the piping and fittings needed to rebuild oil refineries and drilling platforms and bridges. I want to see if England or France or Italy offer anything at all. I want to see if the world that seems to expect so damn much from the United States of America will step up and give a little payback for all the American lives that were lost and money that was spent making it a better world to live in.
I really want to see that…..
~ AP
Posted by Anonymous Pundit at 09:58 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2005
The Silence of the Worms....
This conversation was overheard in the Greenskeeper’s cabin at March Meadows Golf Course late at night on August 26, 2005…….
“What’s bothering you Clarice? Tell me what makes you shiver and listen to the night? What demons do you hear?”
“It’s the worms Daddy….”
“The worms Clarice? I don’t hear any worms.”
“Not now Daddy. But before. Before they left the course. I could hear them screaming Daddy. I could hear the worms screaming.”
“And why were they screaming Clarice? What made the worms scream to upset you so?”
“It was them Daddy. It was them and their ‘worm burner’ shots. Off the tees. In the fairways. In the rough. Even on the greens Daddy. They even burned the worms on the greens! The worms help make the ground good for the grass to grow. We need our worms Daddy…..we needed all of them. But now……so many are gone. The worms were screaming Daddy!! I heard them. They were making the worms scream.”
“And what are you listening to now Clarice?”
“I’m scared Daddy. I’m scared for the worms that won’t be there tomorrow.”
“But what are you listening to Clarice? What are you hearing now?”
“The silence Daddy…..the silence of the worms.”
Golf is a strange game. Much has been written about it and more will be written still. It is a game of honor and civility. Manners and decorum. Skill and mastery of emotion. It is also a game of lies and frustration. Anxiety and crushing, humiliating defeat, usually by one’s own hand.
But once in a while it can also be fun, regardless of how many times you hit the ball, where you hit it or sometimes, embarrassingly enough, if you even manage to hit it at all.
I played the game yesterday for the first time in over seven years. I cannot remember making or seeing so many fascinating shots. The kind you won’t see watching Tiger Woods make on any given Sunday afternoon.
Perhaps the most consistently interesting were the aforementioned ‘worm burner’ shots. Anyone who has learned the game knows them. They happen when a poorly struck ball never really achieves an altitude more than six or seven inches off the fairway, but sometimes still travels a good and fair distance. They even have a unique sound….a sort of ‘ffff-ffff-ffff-fffft’ sound as they skim the surface, putting the fear of God into any wildlife in their path. And yes, that has to include the worms.
To put it into a perspective of scale, it would be about the same as a sphere the size of a house swooshing overhead at about 900 miles an hour. Even an invertebrate appetizer for the avian set would have to get the chills and fear with an event like that. They’d simply have to.
Well there were worm burners a-plenty as well as balls that flew higher into the sky than they did down the fairway. Some balls went swimming and some violated privately held logging permits because of the damage done to the trees. And around Lake Cowichan you have to be extra careful of that happening, because they take their logging pretty darn seriously there. You’re likely as not going to have some foaming at the mouth, wild eyed, chainsaw wielding greenskeeper looking like ‘Leatherface’ from Texas chasing you down the fairway and away from the site of your softwood transgression.
And some balls simply….went away. It helps to keep repeating the old adage, “If you set something free and it comes back to you, it is yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.” But it helps to believe it if you drink lots of beer.
Now here’s a hint that can save inexperienced players a lot of pain and suffering. And I mention this because there is a lot to remember about the game and it can be very confusing trying to remember all of that stuff all at the same time when you are out there.
Probably the most important safety tip out there is to remember that the ball washers are for your GOLF balls only. The pictures below clearly illustrate this function.
As you can plainly see, a trip to the hospital will surely be in store if you get this wrong.
But overall it was a good day and escaping the office was the real prize. More golfing will undoubtedly ensue without another seven year wait, regardless of the number of ‘worm burners’ to be hit in the future. As we were leaving the course the comment was made;
“I love the smell of burnt worms in the morning….it smells like….victory.”
~ AP
Posted by Anonymous Pundit at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)